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A social contract is a political-theoretical concept which describes the (fictive) basic agreement between the members of a polity on the principles of this polity. There is a long legacy of various definitions of a social contract in political theory (Boucher & Kelly, 1994; Freeman, 2012). On the other hand, there is a long historical legacy of practised social contracts in countries inside and outside the European union. Analysing and developing social contracts as conceptual and theoretical constructs generates in-depth understanding of how various political and socioeconomic changes challenge social contracts and, therefore, also potentially the democratic polities they are embedded in. The concept of social contract can therefore be used as a lens through which we can analyse contexts, phenomena and political developments which can generate, intensify or shape the conceptual contestation of liberal democracy. To grasp the impact of the social contract between the members of the demos – as individuals and groups – and between the demos and the state across societies, it is crucial to understand the concept in plural and appreciate how the multiple definitions and practices shape also the scope, implications, and resilience of social contracts in the face of societal transformations and challenges. The panel invites papers to analyse and discuss examples in using the social contract as a conceptual framing for understanding historical and contemporary contestations of liberal democracy.
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Safeguarding Democracy: A Study of Bans against Right-Wing Extremist Organizations in Germany | View Paper Details |
| Crisis, resilience, democracy and social contracts: Concepts and interrelations | View Paper Details |
| Social contracts in Hungary: Historical-political contexts and conceptual challenges | View Paper Details |
| Understandings of democracy for a compound state: Croatia's (un)democratic experiences in federal, multinational states | View Paper Details |
| Redefining the Social Contract? How the Populist Radical Right Approaches the Concepts of Democracy and Freedom(s) | View Paper Details |
| Continuous construction of the social contract and the case of the EP2024 | View Paper Details |